


let down your hair

by torigates



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Established Relationship, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-22
Updated: 2014-05-22
Packaged: 2018-01-26 03:19:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1672769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torigates/pseuds/torigates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was stupid, he knew that. Even Kat had said it, Sid was good at other things. He was good at a lot of other things. And yet, he couldn’t let it go. The idea that he might be letting his daughter down, even if it was small and seemingly insignificant—he just couldn’t let it go. </p>
<p>There was only one thing to it. </p>
<p>Sid had to learn how to braid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	let down your hair

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes you're procrastinating on your other writing projects and you start to think about Sid with a daughter and being a competitive asshole about who's the better dad. sometimes. if you're me.

Sid was just finishing his morning shave when Kat wandered in, sighed heavily, and flopped down onto the closed toilet.

Sid glanced at her in the mirror. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

She sighed sounding so forlorn, and Sid pressed his lips together to stop himself from smiling.

"I can’t find Papa," she whined.

"Well, that makes sense," he said, unable to keep the hint of teasing out of his voice. "He had to go early to the rink this morning. I’m taking you to school."

She sighed again, sliding down the toilet, so she was half draped over it, her legs dangling on the floor. Sid tried really hard not to be offended.

"What’s the matter?" he asked.

"I wanted him to put my hair in a braid."

He rinsed off his razor, and set it down on the sink before turning to face his daughter. Her hair was long and thick, longer than Sid thought a six year old’s hair should really be, but Kat had turned her big brown eyes on Geno and said, “But Papa, princesses have _long_ hair,” and Geno had been helpless to resist her, and Sid was helpless to resist the two of them when they ganged up on him.

Sid had briefly tried to use Rapunzel as incentive for shorter hair, because Kat fought both of them—but Sid especially—when it came time to actually brush it out, but he’d been out voted. (Sid personally believed that his vote should count for more than their first grader’s, but that was neither here nor there).

Their daughter had learned, probably before she could even talk, how to wrap her Papa around her tiny finger. Geno liked to argue that Sid was just as whipped when it came to Kat, but the amount of times that he ended up being the bad guy made him believe otherwise.

"I can do your hair for you," he said.

Kat shot him a look of utter disbelief and disdain, one that Sid reminded him so much of Geno, that he couldn’t even find it in himself to be offended.

"No, Daddy," she said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You suck at it."

"What?" Sid asked. He wasn’t as good as Geno, that was certain. Sid had no idea how Geno managed to get her hair to look so put together and neat. Every time Sid tried to put it in a simple ponytail, let alone anything more complicated, it ended up in a lopsided mess.

She gave him a hard look. “Daddy, you can’t do it,” she said. “I need Papa.”

"That’s not a very nice thing to say, Kat," Sid told her, trying for stern, although secretly, his feelings were a little bit hurt. It was one thing for him to recognize that Geno was better at doing their daughter’s hair, it was another thing entirely for her to have a preference.

"Don’t be silly, Daddy," Kat told him. "You’re good at lots of other stuff."

Sid really couldn’t stop himself from laughing then, picking up his daughter and smothering her with kisses.

"Okay," he said. "Well Papa isn’t here so let’s see what we can do."

He managed to get the two of them ready and out of the house, cajoling Kat into a simple ponytail (albeit one that was decidedly floppy) with her favourite hairclip, and strategically conceding on the argument about what she was allowed to wear to school that day (the pink tutu was usually strictly a “home” outfit, but Sid was man enough to admit that sometimes he just wanted to be his daughter’s favourite dad).

Normally mornings were strictly speaking Geno’s thing. Sid often had press obligations, or interviews, or any number of obligations that forced him out of the house first, but Geno had an appointment with the team doctors about his knee acting up again. Sid wondered how many times Geno had to bribe their daughter to get her dressed and out the door to get her to school on time.

It didn’t matter, he supposed, as he rushed into the team’s dressing room. The two of them made it, and thank fuck Kat didn’t care about routines as much as Sid did. Although, in his defense, he was a lot better about improvising and changing things up in his personal life since Kat had come into their lives. 

Sid made his way to his stall and began changing quickly into his gear. He was a little bit later than he liked to be, but he could make up some of that time by rushing a little.

"Morning go okay?" Geno asked. 

Sid startled a little, he hadn’t noticed Geno cross the dressing room to speak to him. 

"Yeah," Sid said, then made a face. 

"What face for?" 

Sid half sighed, half laughed. “We had a little… conversation about what Kat could wear to school today. I let her wear the tutu.” It was better that Sid admitted this now, because Geno was going to pick her up in the afternoon, and if he saw what she was wearing without warning, Sid would never live it down. 

Geno laughed. ”Whipped.” 

"Like you can talk," Sid muttered. 

Geno just laughed as he walked away.

Practice went fine, good even. And it wasn’t like Sid allowed himself to be distracted while he was on the ice, even if it was an optional skate, but it was there at the back of his mind throughout the morning, and all through his afternoon obligations, all the way through dinner, and stayed with him even as he and Geno were getting into bed that night. 

"What’s wrong?" Geno asked him. "Grumpy all day." 

"I haven’t been grumpy," he said grumpily. 

Geno gave him a look, but leaned over to give him a kiss on the nose, like Sid was the most preciously cute thing he had ever seen in his entire life. Sid couldn’t help the way he sighed and snuggled into Geno’s side. 

It was stupid, he knew that. Even Kat had said it, Sid was good at other things. He was good at a lot of other things. And yet, he couldn’t let it go. The idea that he might be letting his daughter down, even if it was small and seemingly insignificant—he just couldn’t let it go. 

There was only one thing to it. 

Sid had to learn how to braid. 

 

\- 

 

The first thing Sid did was call Taylor, because she was a girl. She probably knew how to braid her own hair, and she could teach Sid! And she was his sister and she loved him, and she probably wouldn’t laugh at him. Much. 

Boy, was he wrong. 

“I’m sorry, you want to _what_?” she said when the wheezing was under control. 

It wasn’t that funny. Sid knew how to appreciate a joke at his own expense as much as the next guy. _More_ than the next guy, even. He was a hockey player, and he was a captain, and he was weird. He got that about himself, and he learned to laugh at himself more than anyone. 

This was not a laughing matter. 

“I don’t understand why it’s so funny,” Sid said, not even bothering to rein in the pout in his voice. “Kat only likes it when Geno braids her hair, and I want to learn how to do it, so I can do a good job for her.” 

“You mean you want to learn how to beat Geno,” Taylor said. 

That wasn’t the reason. It wasn’t, and he told her so. 

“Uh huh,” she said, sounding entirely unimpressed. 

Well, fine. It wasn’t the only reason. “Can you at least give me some pointers now that you’ve calmed down enough to breathe properly?” 

She considered it for a minute. “I don’t think so,” she said. “I think it’ll be funnier to make you work for it, and also, you don’t have to be the best at everything. You could let Geno and Kat just have their hair thing together. You and Kat have plenty of other things.” 

Sid knew that. He did. It wasn’t like he wanted to encroach on Geno’s territory, or his time with their daughter, but Kat should have options, he figured. If she still liked Geno’s braiding better once he was a viable option, then fine, he could live with that. The option should at least be there. So she could make an informed decision.

That was all. 

“I don’t know what to tell you, bro,” she said, after Sid whined at her for a few more minutes. “It’s just something that comes with practice. You of all people should understand and appreciate the value of putting the time and work in.” 

Which, fair, he supposed. It wasn’t like he just got good at hockey by accident. No, he practiced, he worked hard, he learned from the experts. This was no different than that. He just needed a coach. 

_I need Carole-Lyne to teach me how to braid_ , he texted Duper. 

The ensuing five minute silence seemed very judgey to Sid. Very judgey. 

_that’s sexist_ , came Duper’s reply. _how do you know I’m not the one who does the girls’ hair???_

_because I know_ , Sid replied after a long moment of staring at his phone and trying to decide if Duper was messing with him or being serious. The former was usually a safe bet, but he got weird about the most random things sometimes. 

_you don’t know anything_

Ugh. Sid really needed some new friends. Ones who knew how to braid, preferably. 

Eventually, Carole-Lyne did get in touch with him. Sid thought he was probably better off never knowing what exactly Duper said to her to get her to contact him, but whatever.

"I'm trying to learn how to braid," he said, when she approached in after practice. All the Dupuis kids had come to watch, and were currently sitting on the visitor's bench and cheering on the rookies as they made a show of picking up the stray pucks.

Which was how he found himself invited over for dinner, and sitting in the Dupuis living room with Maeva sitting on the floor between his legs while Carole-Lyne hovered over his shoulder and tried to show him which strands of hair went where. 

“Wow, you’re really terrible at this,” she said, sitting back against the cushions after ten minutes of Sid struggling and Maeva doing her best not to flinch every time Sid pulled some hair too hard or in the wrong direction. 

He reminded himself that he was currently holding strands of a young girl’s hair in his hands, and that he was an adult besides, so throwing a temper tantrum was probably not the best direction to go in right now. 

“I know,” he said forlornly. “I just really want to do a good job, but I can’t. How do hold all the different parts with only two hands? And make it look nice and neat? I don’t get it, this is impossible.” 

Carole-Lyne laughed, and gently nudged Sid out of the way, moving into the position behind Maeva and pulled her hair deftly and quickly into a tight, neat french braid. When she was done, Maeva turned around and pushed herself up against Sid’s knees, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. 

“Sid, I love you but there’s no way I’m letting you near my hair again. Sorry.” 

She didn’t look sorry, and Sid thought that was kind of rude. 

In a fit of desperation, Sid went home that night and desperately googled, “men learning how to braid,” which mostly lead to a bunch of links about men learning how to braid their own hair. Not exactly what Sid was looking for. There was, however, a link to a YouTube video titled, “French Braid LIKE A MAN,” which Sid clicked on out of desperation more than anything else. 

It turned out to be a pretty basic tutorial about how to braid and french braid, which Sid knew the mechanics of already, but there was something kind of soothing about watching someone else do something deftly and competently. It seemed easier when the woman on the video did it, and it gave Sid a sense of confidence that everything else he tried had failed to do. 

He found himself clicking on a link in the sidebar, and then another, and then another. There was apparently a lot of videos on the internet whose aim was to teach people how to do their hair, or their kids’ hair. That made Sid feel better, like he wasn’t the only clueless dad out there just trying to do right by his daughter. A lot of the videos were quite instructional, others _way_ out of his league, but he watched them anyway out of a sense of--he didn’t even know. 

“You been here long time.” 

Geno’s voice, and his hand on the back of Sid’s neck startled him out of what could only be described as a trance. 

He knuckled his eyes and looked down at the clock. “Woah,” he said. “Is that right?” 

“What you do?” Geno asked. “Watch videos this whole time?” He squeezed the hand still resting on Sid’s neck, working out a bit of the stiffness there. 

Sid hadn’t realised how much time had passed, and he shrugged a little sheepishly. “I guess I lost track of time.” 

“Watch video for braid?” Geno asked, peering around Sid’s shoulder to finally see what it was that had occupied him all this time. “Sid.” There was a hint of reproach in his voice. 

Sid swung around on his chair to face Geno and wrapped his arms around his waist, burying his face in Geno’s stomach and rubbing his nose back and forth a few times against the soft cotton of Geno’s t-shirt. 

“I know,” he said. “I know. I just wanted to learn. I guess I got a little carried away.” 

“Don’t have to be best at everything,” Geno told him, running his fingers through Sid’s hair and scratching his scalp lightly. “Already best at many things. Okay to let me have something.” 

Sid felt bad. “I know,” he said. “I know. And it’s great that you and Kat have this thing that’s just yours. I know that, and it’s not even really about--” 

Geno pulled back to look Sid in the eye, one eyebrow raised perfectly, judging him. 

“Okay, it’s a little bit about that,” Sid admitted. “It’s not like I’m trying to take it away from you or anything. I just--I don’t know.” He sighed and pressed his face against Geno’s stomach again. 

“Oh, Sid,” Geno said. He sounded exasperated and fond all at once. “You want I teach?” he offered after a long moment. 

Sid stood and wrapped his arms around Geno’s neck, before going up on his tiptoes and kissing him softly on the mouth. “No, it’s okay,” he said. “You’re right, it’s your thing. Plus if you teach me, I won’t be b--” he bit off the rest of his sentence before he could dig himself even more into the hole. 

From the look on Geno’s face, it was too late. 

“Won’t be what?” he asked. “Better?” 

“No,” he said, drawing out the word for several syllables. “That wasn’t what I was going to say.” 

Geno looked unimpressed. “What you say?” 

“I won’t be,” he trailed off, stepping away from Geno’s body as he searched for a replacement word. “I won’t be,” he took several steps towards the door of the office. If he could just make it to the hall, he’d be free. “I won’t be--”

Geno lunged, and Sid scrambled backwards out into the hall, and towards the stairs. 

“Shh,” he said. “Kat’s asleep, be quiet.” 

“You be quiet,” Geno said, still moving towards Sid. 

He turned and ran up the stairs, Geno hot on his tail. 

There wasn’t much more thought about braiding that night. 

 

\- 

 

Still, Sid maybe… went online and bought a hairdresser’s mannequin head. And had it shipped overnight. And watched a shitload more YouTube videos. 

He was competitive. He was man enough to admit that sometimes could be a character flaw. 

It was hard to care the first time he did an absolutely _gorgeous_ , perfect french braid. He did a few more just to make sure he really got the hang of it. 

“Kat,” he called, once he was sure he would do a good job. “Come here, sweetheart.” 

“What?” she asked, sticking her head into the den, where he was sitting on the couch. 

“I want to braid your hair, come sit in front of me.” 

“Ugh,” she said. “Dad, no. I only like it when Papa does it.” 

Geno, who had made his way into the room from the kitchen, just smirked at Sid. It was probably a bad idea for them to be this competitive over her affections. That was definitely going to come back and bite them in the ass one day, but… Sid found it hard to care just then. 

“Just come on,” he said, gesturing her over. “Let me try. Please?” He wasn’t above playing dirty himself. 

She rolled her eyes but came and sat down in front of him anyway. 

Sid took a deep breath before combing her hair carefully until it was smooth, and dividing it into even chunks. Carefully, he started to braid, making sure everything was flat and even, and that he didn’t pull her hair at all. 

When he was done Kat had an absolutely perfect braid. Sid sat back and admired his work for a moment, before holding up a mirror so she could see the back. 

“Well?” he asked. “What do you think?” 

She looked in the mirror for a moment before shrugging and twisting around so she could face him. “It’s okay,” she admitted. 

Sid beamed. 

“I still like Papa’s better.” 

He stared at her, stunned, while she scrambled into his lap and gave him a kiss on the cheek, before running over and wrapping her arms around Geno’s waist for a quick hug. She fled from the room, skipping. 

When Sid looked over at Geno, he was fighting to keep in a grin. 

“Don’t,” Sid said, pointing a finger at him. “Just, don’t.” 

Geno laughed then, a full belly laugh, that had him bending at the waist, and hanging onto the wall to try and keep himself on his feet. 

He made his way over to the couch and collapsed next to Sid, still laughing. 

“You don’t need to rub it in,” Sid said. 

That just set Geno off harder, laughing wetly into Sid’s neck, his arms wrapped around Sid’s waist. When he pulled back there were tears--literally tears--streaming down his face. 

“Oh, give it a rest, G,” Sid said. 

Geno leaned forward and kissed Sid on the mouth, still chuckling. He pulled back and pressed his thumb to Sid’s lower lip. “Pouty,” he said. “So pouty. Like you not rub in if I lose?” he asked. 

Sid grumbled, but Geno just kissed him again, longer this time. He licked over Sid’s lower lip, and sucked it into his mouth, his hand firm on the back of Sid’s neck. Sid could have pulled back, but found he didn’t want to. They kissed for a long moment, before Sid noticed Geno’s shoulders were shaking beneath his hands. 

“Really?” Sid asked, when he pulled back to look Geno in the eye. “Really?” 

Geno just laughed harder. 

Sid punched him in the shoulder as hard as he could.

**Author's Note:**

> and then after Kat comes back into the den and snuggles up next to Sid and makes them watch The Little Mermaid together and makes Sid sing [Part of Your World](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwSn5ObK8-g)


End file.
